Traditional wood fired ovens were widely distributed throughout Paris. The retail bake shop was very visible and located at street level with display windows along the sidewalk. The engine that ran and supplied all the baked goods was in the basement where natural conditions provided a darker ...

Ten minutes from our shop in Skowhegan, Maine, Rick Anzelc purchased a 1830′s Greek Revival farmhouse, ell, wood shed and barn where he had lived as a boy. Recent previous owners/tenants had not treated the home well, and after the last tenants left the abandoned house suffered the loss from theft of all the copper wiring and pipes. After Rick bought the house, he decided to strip it back to its bare bones of frame, ...

The timber frame house and ten acres of open land on a ridge just outside of Pittsfield, Massachusetts offered enough land for Jim and Annie Schultz to start their organic Red Shirt Farm and to make ...

December 1, 2014
I was working on a masonry heater project in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in October (2014) when I received a call from my old friend Peter Moore in Vermont. Peter, who builds exquisite masonry heaters and wood fired ovens (for 30+ years), was reaching out for help. He had built a masonry heater for his daughter and she recently discovered that the heater was not drafting properly and was smoking into the room. Peter went over to inspect everything ...

At the beginning of September, close to a full, harvest moon, Oliver and grampa-Albie, went to the coast to dig some hen clams. They learned of a secret clamming spot from a friend who assured them they would go home with lots of clams, gathered in a very short period. True to the friend’s word, they shared a beautiful evening, digging clams on the coast of Maine at a super low tide. Oliver excitedly brought his cooler ...

We’ve been making pizza in wood fired ovens for a few years now. The ovens have evolved over time and so has the dough. When I first started making dough I used a recipe from “The Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book” and used only whole wheat flour. Nutrition is important to me and I was determined to master the art of baking with whole grains. The dough was good. It had nice nutty flavor and was ...

The oven sits out back. It calls to us, telling tales of cooking adventures possible and past. We engage in its temptations whenever possible. Sometimes it’s easy and joyous, surrounded by friends and temperate weather conditions, casting its warm glow long into the night. Often however, the circumstances are less ideal and yet still we light and tend and tend and cook. Recently we found ourselves in the latter situation. Our home was filled with visitors, eager to experience some oven ...